The odd life of Tim Duncan

With the San Antonio Spurs’ convincing 107-86 win over the Miami Heat in Thursday night’s Game 4 of the NBA Finals, veteran star Tim Duncan is sure to enter the news cycle once again.

Sure, he stands a good chance of winning his fifth finals series in his 17-year career, but that’s not what I will be keeping an eye on.

Since he entered the NBA in the 1997draft, Duncan has had a storied career. A Rookie of the Year award, three NBA Finals MVP awards and countless NBA All-Star nods. He has achieved much success and fame from his actions on the court.

Off the court, however, Duncan has a much lower profile. Other than a divorce in 2013, Duncan has largely stayed out of the spotlight when not on the court. He reportedly enjoys renaissance fairs, is an avid video game player and remains mostly quiet.

It is perhaps because of this that Duncan has attracted the attention of the satirical news media organization The Onion.

Throughout the years The Onion has portrayed Duncan as a consistently-nice, thoroughly-informed, perpetual do-gooder.

With headlines ranging from “Tim Duncan Offers To Do Taxes For Entire Spurs Team,” to “Groans Abound As Tim Duncan Raises Hand Once Again At City Council,” Duncan appears to be a favorite target.

Others include “Tim Duncan Spends Free Time Trying To Get Wrongfully Incarcerated Man Off Death Row,” and “Tim Duncan’s claim That He Has Had Over 10,000 Platonic Relationships With Women.”

Why not, I say? It’s good, clean fun.

This kind of Internet lore attributed to one seemingly quiet and unassuming NBA star is funny, and hard not to laugh at.

After all, this is the same man who comforted the Los Angeles Lakers following a playoff loss by citing the battle of Agincourt, and who also offered to explain the government sequestration to fellow Spurs players in 2013.

What new adventures will Duncan experience should he claim his fifth championship win? Will he teach members of the next NBA draft class calculus in his spare time, or will he discover a more efficient and cost-effective way of traveling for the Spurs?

We’ll undoubtedly find out in the near future, as the Heat looked outclassed, outgunned, outplayed and out-everythinged Thursday night. At age 38, Duncan would likely retire were he to secure a fifth championship win, but who knows?

Win or lose, it’s been a great experience to watch Tim Duncan play throughout the years. Despite being nearly 7 feet tall and an NBA star for what seems like forever, he’s always been a cool, calm and laid back kind of guy who goes largely unnoticed.

Congrats on your career, big guy. You’ll still be fun to follow for a long time.

Also, don’t forget your fathers today. Whether he is still in your life or not, take the time to think about your father and how he has impacted your life and give him a call or go see him if possible.

Fathers can play an integral role in the life of their children, good or bad. So take the time to think about yours and how he has affected you over the course of your life. You don’t know how long you’ll have him around, so be sure to take advantage while you still can.

I lost my father to cancer when I was 21, while serving with the United States Marine Corps in Afghanistan. His passing was a very difficult ordeal to go through and it took me several years to right the ship, but eventually it happened.

I still miss him terribly, but I take comfort in the fact that he was a good person with a big heart who was always willing to help somebody out. If I turn out to be half as good a man as he was, I can leave this Earth with peace of mind.